Addiction?

I work as a receptionist. the partner of one of my co-workers keeps calling about once per month with a tragic story to share. usually these are huge problems like cancer, loss of a loved one or similar. He tells the story and then asks me not to tell his partner. it is usually early in the day and he often seems intoxicated. My co-worker refuses to talk about it. By the next time I hear from him, the problems are gone and everything seems ok again. I suspect an issue with narcotic abuse, but want a professional opinion. The caller is disruptive at the least and abusing me emotionally as a captive audience for problems that don't even necessarily exist. What can I do?

If you listen, you encourage him to phone again. Just end the phone call when you hear it is him.